Contact these guys for the best advice on Isuzu’s, older ones, for money and longevity of the older tech Isuzu. they specialize in not only new but also 2nd hand Isuzu, and older models, and have a scrap yard for older parts AND service older Isuzu’s.
I’m told, stand to be corrected, my 1999 model was like the last model, 2000 or 2001, a newer clutch was used, costing double due to design.
Titbit:
You go to them with injector issues. They ask you, have you used 2 x cans of Wurt Diesel Cure with 2 tanks, one at least?
No, go away and do that.
Yes, ok, so what is the issue?
Apologies for inserting myself into the conversation. Something else to possibly consider - IF you will not be doing your own repairs - is which brand has dealer/parts presence closest to the likely “out in the sticks” you will be (or at least check with the locals whether there is a trusted “indy” close by). Not everybody that can wield a spanner should and someone that knows the quirks of particular vehicles might be especially handy without ECU’s that report error codes.
I personally know of a Prado with the 1GR-FE 4.0 V6 running around with 480k something km on the clock, also a Cruiser bakkie with 410k km on the clock.
Last year my cousin sold his Hilux with 290k km on the clock.
As long as you stick to the very few actually preventative maintenance items, those motors are tough as nails and will continue running as long as you feed it petrol. At around 200k km replace the water pump and thermostat and if you have a long range tank, make piece with the fact that you’ll have to replace the petrol pump at some point, that’s pretty much it engine wise.
Then replace the auto gearbox oil every 100k km or so and you are golden.
I rate those motors up there with the 1HZ diesel motor from Toyota.
Unfortunately the only down side to them, fuel consumption is directly coupled to your right foot and the way that thing pulls and sounds, you tend to always want to put the right foot in to it.
Now THAT lesson I’ve learned the last couple of years.
When working on a 25-year-old tried and trusted vehicle, make sure the mechanics you pay to work on it, are older than “25”.
You can train anyone.
But experience to “know what’s going on” is an entirely different subject matter.
Like once I took Suzy in for making a blowing noise at certain revs.
First “expert” mechanics say, “O no, it is the turbo.”
Go to 2nd “expert”. His hands are dirty, gets in the passenger seat. As I pull away, 10m if that, he says “Go back, it is the exhaust manifold gasket.”
Found the problem. Right at the back, difficult to see, it ever so slightly blew exhaust out under certain conditions.
The person who installed the gasket, the first “expert”, did not do it right.
So yeah, wherever you settle, a very good suggestion. Find the local vehicle expert you want to buy, and ask them for their best advice for the area.
I found similar results when I looked into it yesterday. If you take care of them, they will do half a million km and maybe (very maybe) use a little bit of oil. If you neglect them, and need an overhaul… it cannot be overhauled in the traditional manner of larger pistons, new rings and boring the block one size out.
The Car Care Nut, one of my favourite youtube channels, also review it very favourably.
I know from past experience with a vehicle that was rebored twice, that my local dirt roads are coated with grinding paste.
So it won’t be 450k Km for me, without a rebore.
Well it sounds like we’ve narrowed it down to a late 90s Isuzu KB then
If my roads had that much fine dust, I would probably look at using a snorkel (hopefully suck more clean air higher up), and a better air filter.
Maybe consider an oil bath filter with a cyclonic precleaner? Will sap some of the power, but that’s what they use in tractors that plow fields… precisely because of the dust. Also, apparantly in disaster areas where there has been a volcanic eruption, oil bath filters don’t let the volcanic ash through, but paper elements do.
Or… if the roads are that bad, maybe retire in a more… uuuuh… civilised spot?
So I heard a good joke today…and as the vehicle was mentioned above…
The British soldiers were departing South Africa’s shores after the Second Boer war and General Jan Smuts saw Koos de la Ray and Lord Kitchener having a serious discussion…
When Gen Smuts asked Koos what was said, he replied “Ek weet nie wat hy bedoel het nie, maar hy se ons kak is geboek…oor 40 jaar stuur die engelse vir ons die Land Rover.”
A Texan, in a heavy Southern drawl, tells a South African: You know, my ranch is so big… It takes me two days to get from the one side to the other! To which the South African replies: You know, I also once had a k*k bakkie like that!
The mechanic that is helping me identify the fault on the brakes, told me he bought a 250KB bakkie, same year as mine.
Engine was gonners. So he fixed it and sold it for a nice little profit on the spot.
250KB’s, understand, they get like 130 down a mineshaft with the windows open after 10 minutes, but they do have good fuel consumption I’m told, and their engines, they keep on going if you don’t do too many “mineshafts” with them, replaced all the filters regularly, use good oil.
Drive all old tech Isuzu just “lekker”, don’t be a Bob and drive like they are Porches, rather get a Porche then. Slow is fast and fast is slow comes to mind with old tech Isuzu’s.
Yep, it seems a KB250 will fit the bill.
I’d like to get the latest model that is still the old-tech good stuff.
Is there a cut-off year for these?
In other words, did they make them up to a certain year, and then after that they lost the winning recipe with later models?
